


Hokora

by thehoyden



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-05-06
Updated: 2010-05-06
Packaged: 2017-10-09 08:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehoyden/pseuds/thehoyden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Touya's steps slow to match Shindou, who drifts to a halt beside a tiny, dusty shrine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hokora

Touya's steps slow to match Shindou, who drifts to a halt beside a tiny, dusty shrine. It's unremarkable, a narrow little path leading up to the small sanctuary building, wood dark from age and elements, compressed by the concrete flowering of the urban landscape around it.

Touya says nothing, and watches Shindou gently touch the ugly chain-link fence surrounding it. He glances briefly at Touya -- his hair is longer now, it's always in his face -- and then he's ducking under the lintel of the gate, unpainted and just as weathered as the sanctuary.

"Shindou," Touya says once, then gives up and follows him. When he's like this, Shindou is unreasoning and firm, and there's nothing to be done but to follow in his wake, like water rushing around a stone that's been dislodged from a dam.

"No one's been here in a while," Shindou says, a note of complaint sharpening his voice.

Touya looks around, but this stretch of road seems to be only inhabited by passing cars. "It's a street-side shrine," he says calmly. "Maybe the person tending it has been gone." Touya does not voice the more likely alternative -- that the old grandmother or grandfather who looked after it has passed away.

Shindou fumbles in his pockets for some change, and then tosses a few coins into the little offering box, where they clink against the wooden bottom. Then he bows, claps, and his eyes slide shut as he prays.

Touya takes out his own wallet, but the only coins he has are a few flimsy one yen pieces, which might be better than nothing but feel unsatisfactory. He waits for Shindou to finish praying for whatever it is that Shindou needs to pray for, although it's possible he could just be asking for the usual -- good health and fortune for himself and his loved ones.

When he opens his eyes finally, Shindou bows and then turns as if to go, but pauses. "I just -- I don't want him to feel lonely," he says, and he sounds as though he's talking about a well-loved neighbor and not a half-forgotten roadside deity.

If Shindou is ridiculous -- and he _is_, he really is -- Touya is made all the more so by continued exposure to Shindou's particular brand of madness. That's the only explanation there is for plucking one of the two terribly expensive peaches they'd bought for their picnic in Shinjuku Park out of their bag, and placing it carefully in front of the tiny sanctuary doors. He bows, claps his hands, and squeezes his eyes shut -- and thinks, _thank you, I hope your caretaker is well, please take care of my family, take care of_ \--

He lets his hands fall down to his sides and opens his eyes. Shindou is still standing beside him, still facing in the opposite direction toward the gate, but his hand grips Touya's suddenly, fiercely.

"Don't worry," Shindou says. "You can eat half of mine."

It's a clear day, but there's a sudden gust of wind just before they cross the threshold, and it scatters the last petals of the season around them.


End file.
